Thread by @ChenderMLA

To say that today’s report from the Economic Growth Council was a disappointment doesn’t quite cover it. static1.squarespace.com/static/60df527… #nspoli

In the last 15 months I have spoken with hundreds of people from all walks of life. People who own small businesses, who work in non profits, people struggling to find housing, parents hanging on by a thread after the triple tsunami of the Covid shut downs.

The one commonality—heck it’s even the federal Liberal slogan—is that we all seem to want to come out of this pandemic better than we were before. Not materially, but actually. Most people I talk to see an opportunity. We can do things differently.

This report essentially recommends extensive regulatory reform and red tape reduction. Which this liberal government has been prioritizing for the past 8 years. More of the same.

I am not arguing that regulatory reform and streamlining may be needed in some places. I am not arguing that we don’t want businesses in Nova Scotia but my goodness. THIS is the best we’ve got about how we come out of this pandemic?

We are in the middle of consultations on the Sustainable Goals and Development Act, legislation that should be guiding ALL of the actions of government, and yet this is not mentioned. The word environment is mentioned 3 times, preceded twice by regulatory and once by business.

This report fails to meet both the opportunity and responsibility of this moment. We need brave leadership. We need green jobs. Ones that grow our economy, that help us recover and adapt to all of the uncertainty that we face.

We need housing. Yesterday. There is a nod to empowering municipalities, hopefully that would mean enacting inclusionary zoning which @LisaRobertsHfx first introduced in 2017. Like the welcome $25 Million dollar investment announced yesterday this is a drop in the bucket.

And for perspective, housing is investment. If the 100s of people who are unhoused or about to be evicted had supportive housing it’s more likely that they wouldn’t visit the emergency room, or need income assistance, or jail nights or all of the other “expenses” they incur.

But that doesn’t really matter. This government is watching more and more people become homeless. People are discharged from the hospital to the street. Government employees are handing out tents. It is unconscionable.

We have empty hotels, tracts of government land. We have the building blocks but not the will.

So, sure. Regulatory effectiveness. But that’s it? That’s the whole thing? I want to be working towards a future where my children can thrive. Economic growth needs to happen in the context of this moment, this province, this world, and it is calling for so much more. #nspoli

Postscript: I want to be working towards a world where all children thrive. And where all Nova Scotians are included in whatever version of economic growth we’re working towards. But I don’t think this covers it.